Questions over the whereabouts of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei grew on Saturday after Israel and the United States launched a daylight strike on Tehran, with one of the first reported impacts occurring near his offices in the city's centre.
A source told Reuters that Khamenei was not in Tehran at the time of the strike and had already been moved to a secure location. No details were provided about where he had been taken or when the transfer happened.
US President Donald Trump confirmed that American forces had begun what he described as large-scale military action against Iran. In an eight-minute video posted on Truth Social, he outlined Washington's justification for the operation.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” the president said.
“Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world,” he added.
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted Death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries,” he said.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the strikes. "The State of Israel launched a preemptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel," he said.
The attack did not come out of nowhere. Tensions between Iran, Israel, and the United States had been building steadily over Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Just a day before the strikes, US President Donald Trump said he had yet to make a final call on American military action against Iran, but he left little doubt about his mood. He described himself as "not happy" with the situation and confirmed that military force, including the possibility of regime change, remained firmly on the table.
